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CFPB finalizes remittance rule revisions

Mike Coleman

August 25, 2014

Aug. 25, 2014 – CFPB on Friday finalized revisions to its international remittance transfer rule, which includes a temporary exception allowing credit unions to estimate third-party fees and exchange rates for money transfers until July 21, 2015.

However, the final rule will extend this exception until July 21, 2020. NAFCU urged this exception in discussions with and comment letters to CFPB leading up to the final rule, which took effect last October.

The bureau also specified under these revisions the treatment of U.S. military installations abroad. The final rule establishes that transfers to and from individuals and accounts located on U.S. military installations abroad to designated recipients in the U.S., will be excluded from the remittance rule’s application.

“NAFCU welcomes the extension and our members are happy to see the bureau explicitly specify that U.S. military installations located abroad are states for the purposes of the remittance rule.” said NAFCU Director of Regulatory Affairs Michael Coleman. “NAFCU and our members, however, remain concerned about the overall rule and the incredible burden it places on any credit union facilitating more than 100 remittances yearly for its members. As it stands, this rule is pushing credit unions out of the market.”

Among other clarifications in the final rule:

Transfers from non-consumer accounts do not apply to the remittance rule.

Disclosures provided by fax are considered to be “in writing,” and therefore not subject to the additional requirements for electronic disclosures.

A provider may treat a written or electronic communication as an inquiry when it believes that treating the communication as a request would be impractical. Under this revision, a credit union may then treat that initial communication as an inquiry and subsequently respond to the member’s inquiry by calling the member on a telephone and orally gathering or confirming the information needed to identify and understand a request for a remittance transfer.